IF you've seen any of the
previous adaptations of Nicholas Sparks's novels, you'll know what to expect
with Safe Haven.

This romance follows a similar path to Nights In Rodanthe
and The Lucky One, where two attractive and seemingly perfect people must help
each other learn to love again, teaching each other to overcome their pasts and
their insecurities.

It's all so predictable and all so "Nicholas Sparks", but
the one thing you won't expect (unless you've read the book probably) is the
plot twist that comes in the last couple of minutes of Safe Haven.

The reason
you won't expect it is because it's a screenwriting maneuvre that is so
incredibly baffling and profoundly stupid that it will make you want to punch
the movie in the face.

Prior to the twist, Safe Haven bubbles along nicely
enough for a slightly numbing two hours, but it was at least hard to totally
hate the film.

Sure, Safe Haven is corny, painfully obvious and you could
set your watch by its romantic developments, but it has a certain charm to it at
least and features a surprisingly solid turn from Duhamel.

He plays Alex, the
single father of two who runs a quaint little store in a quaint little seaport
town with the quaint little name of Southport.

This is where Katie (Hough)
ends up, on the run from a dark past and looking for a new beginning.

Naturally the two cross paths and help each other learn to love again,
teaching each other to overcome their pasts and their insecurities. And, as
you'd expect in a Nicholas Sparks movie, there is trouble on the
horizon.

Safe Haven feels typical and unremarkable, like it's destined for
midday movie status. But it's also largely inoffensive and Duhamel has enough
charisma to even make up for a certain lifelessness in Hough's
performance.

Then comes this ridiculous twist, which makes you want to hate
the film. The twist is preposterous and actually manages to undo a lot of the
goodwill the movie had achieved prior to its last three minutes.

While the
other plot holes, bad lines, and predictable developments are predominately
excusable amid the niceness, the ending changes everything. It makes you view
the entire film - particularly a main character - differently... and not in a
good way.

It feels wrong to give an otherwise okay film one star just
because of its final three minutes, so Safe Haven begrudgingly gets two stars.
If you walk out before the last three minutes, it's a solid two stars.